Oprah Winfrey, arguably the most powerful woman in entertainment (if not the world in general), is preparing to pack her luxurious bags. She's announced that in 2011, after a quarter-century of favorite things and heartfelt interviews, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" will be no more. The last program is scheduled for Sept. 9, 2011. One can only imagine who might be her guests.

In syndication across the country, Oprah's eponymous program is the top-rated U.S. daytime show (take that, Days of Our Lives!), with an average viewership of 7.1 million this year.

While not entirely unexpected, the news is likely a bit of a blow to CBS Corporation (CBS), as its CBS Television Distribution arm syndicates the program. Additionally, Walt Disney (DIS) might feel the sting of an Oprah departure as Disney-owned ABC is the primary network that airs the show. And will it impact O, Oprah's monthly magazine published by the Heart Corporation? To say nothing of all of the manic women in the audience who long for a chance at one of Oprah's favorite things.

Analyst upgrades:

• Collins Stewart upgraded General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) to Buy from Hold as it finds the valuation compelling at current levels and sees potential upside from a better economy and better-than-expected defense budgets.
• SunTrust views the sell-off in shares of Cabot Oil (NYSE: COG) as a buying opportunity and expects the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection order to be resolved quickly. The firm upgraded Cabot to Buy from Neutral.
• Barclays upgraded Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) to Overweight from Equal Weight based on expectations for improved carrier demand, continued U.S. momentum, and an improved Europe.
• Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.
• Stericycle (NASDAQ: SRCL) was upgraded to Gradually Accumulate from Hold at Soleil.
• Grupo Televisa (NYSE: TV) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman.

It's a close call, but I'm Reiterating my Buy rating for Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA), first recommended on April 22, 2009 at a price of $14.05.

Comcast's stock has moved sideways, basically, for the last six months, so a caution flag nevertheless has been raised. The stock has straddled the 50-day moving average during that period, suggesting that institutional investors are concerned about Comcast.

How can two of the most popular TV shows hurt investors? Easily.

"American Idol's" season 8 debut this week attracted more than 30 million viewers, making it the most watched TV show of the season, according to Nielsen Media Research. But as the Associated Press notes, that's not good news for Fox corporate parent News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) because it represents a viewership decline of 10 percent from the 2008 season.

Blame the Hollywood writers' strike and changing media habits. Couch potatoes across the U.S. got tired of watching rerun after rerun and decided to do other things such as play video games, watch movies and, heaven help us, read books. People got out of the television viewing habit that it took decades to develop. Getting people to come back to network TV is proving to be difficult.

It will be interesting to see if the audience returns to ABC's "Lost" when its newest season begins airing next week. The program's ratings began to decline last season as the plot lines got goofier. You can bet that the Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) has more than a passing interest in whether Jack convinces the other survivors to return to the island.

When I tune into "American Idol" tonight, I will expect more of the same.

There will be the usual varieties of contestants annoyingly naive (David Archuletta), wannabe rockers (Bo Bice), pretty but talentless (Antonella Barbra), the vacuous (Kellie Pickler), weirdos (Sanjaya Malakar) and the wastes of space (Kevin Covais).

Viewers will hear Simon Cowell be biting, Paula Abdul be spacy and Randy Jackson be cool. The wildcard is new judge Kara DioGuardi who recently told Rolling Stone that the male contestants were the strongest. How seriously, though, can you take someone whose company was responsible for such odious tunes as Nick Lachay's "Best of Me?"

But will the viewers come? Of course the show is still the No. 1 program on TV, but there are signs that the program is fading. Viewership fell during the last season though 32 million people tuned into the anti-climatic season finale that featured an unfunny cameo by Mike Myers as "The Love Guru."

It's just weeks away -- a potentially big change for the television show that transfixes America. But how many people would watch it if the show's superstar decided to take a hike? That's not just a troubling question for viewers of the show but for investors in the stock of the company that licenses it around the world. What show am I talking about? American Idol. Which star is thinking of leaving? Wait for it -- Simon Cowell. And what stock could take a beating if he leaves? CKX Inc (NASDAQ: CKXE).

Simon Cowell is thinking of leaving American Idol. According to MSNBC, Simon said "I'll make a decision about (whether to stay with the show) next year." Why would Simon leave? He claims it's not personality conflicts but the workload and his belief that the show could keep those demands going "for another 10 years." But if Simon leaves, would the show be as popular? Could the producers find someone else to be the harsh voice of reality?

That's an important question for investors in CKX. Way back in June 2007, CKX accepted a bid to go private in a $1.3 billion LBO led by its founder Robert Sillerman. But on November 4. 2008, that deal fell apart due to tightening credit conditions. This put Sillerman's 19X, which was leading the buyout, on the hook for a $37.5 million termination fee, which it said it would pay for with about 3.3 million shares of CKX common stock then valued at $11.08 per share and $500,000 in cash. The company said it will pay the fee in full within 30 days of the deal's termination date.

When most investors are down on a stock they own, they get depressed and sell.

Not so for Carl Icahn. Since he first bought shares of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (NYSE: LGF) back in mid-2006, the stock has fallen from around $10 per share to the current price of just over $7. Now Icahn has doubled his stake in the film house to 9.2%. Lions Gate is best-known for hit movies including "Crash" and "Saw", along with TV shows such as "Weeds" and "Mad Men." Icahn may see tremendous value in the company's library of films.

Vice Chairman Michael Burns told (subscription required) The Wall Street Journal that "Mr. Icahn and Lions Gate seem to share a similar vision of the growing value of content as platforms increase delivery around the world."

It'll be interesting to see if Icahn gets active in this company. He has said that he views the company as underleveraged, but current market conditions may make it tough for the company to pursue some of Icahn's favorite value-creation strategies: borrowing money to buy back stock and/or pursuing a sale or merger.

PC and chip companies have been trying to get TV viewers to use internet functions on their home entertainment systems for years. The problem may be that people who watch television are old. Consumers who use PCs are young. That has not stopped repeated attempts to marry the two.

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) are making another run at putting the two technologies together and it will probably fail. According to The Wall Street Journal, "The pair outlined software tools, based on Yahoo technology, to help companies deliver Web content alongside TV programming. The software complements a new chip from Intel designed to enable interactive features on TVs."

Under this new plan, web content will sit in a bar at the bottom of the screen.

TV viewers already see information at the bottom of their TV monitors. Most business news channels like CNBC use the space to run stock quotes. Sports programming often scrolls scores in that section of the screen. Those bits of information may be useful, but TV is still a passive experience.

People who sit in front of a television set want information and entertainment. They do not want to have to make any effort to get those things. The PC has hundreds of applications that involve a great deal of effort. The keyboard is an "active" feature. People sitting in lounge chairs to watch the tube want to fall asleep.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Panasonic, the main American subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.(NYSE:MC) is getting serious about its bet on the next generation of televisions. Panasonic is going with what's known as OEL (organic electroluminescent) or OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) TVs. They're vastly thinner---less than a quarter of an inch---and are supposed to faster, sharper and use less energy. (Some have disputed the last point.) But they could wear out quicker than other TVs, and by organic they just mean carbon based.

Sony (NYSE: SNE) already has the lead in the a OLED TV market. But Sony's TV is only 11 inches and it costs $2,500. They plan to release a 27-inch version "fairly soon," according to this blog dedicated to OLED. Matsushita---which is changing its name to Panasonic come fall---is planning a 37-inch screen for around $1,400, according to Reuters, which was picking the story up from the Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun. But that's still years away.

Toshiba (TOSBF) is also working on one, but suffered some delays. Samsung just announced they were investing $530 million in OLED production. There have been plenty of delays in this OLED technology--almost as many as there have been with the rival technology SED (surface-conduction electron-emitter display). Toshiba and Canon (NYSE:CAJ)is the big backers of SED TVs. After years of delays the battle for the next, thinnest TV is heating up.

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) stock is falling after analyst Jeff Macke said last night on CNBC's "Fast Money" that investors should sell V and buy shares of MasterCard (NYSE: MA) instead. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on V.

After hitting a one-year high of $69.00 shortly after its IPO last month, the stock has been sticking at a level between there and $65. This morning, V opened at $68.44. So far today the stock has hit a low of $66.01 and a high of $68.72. As of 12:00, V is trading at $66.42, down $1.67 (-2.4%). The chart for V looks bullish and steady.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a May bear-call credit spread above the $80 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 4.2% return in 6 weeks as long as V is below $80 at May expiration. Visa would have to rise by more than 20% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

Last night's Super Bowl may have been the most watched telecast ever, according to preliminary data compiled by Nielsen Media Research.

Ratings for the contest between the New York Giants and New England Patriots were up 9% from last year. Figures for the number of viewers weren't immediately available from Nielsen. The most watched program of all time was the 1983 finale of "M-A-S-H." Until now, the most-watched Super Bowl was in 1996 when the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Shares of News Corp (NYSE: NWS), whose Fox Network broadcast last night's game, are down 18% over the past year as Wall Street worried that Rupert Murdoch's media empire would be hurt by a slowdown in advertising spending and the Hollywod writers' strike.

Looks like Al Gore, the world's most prominent environmentalist, also is interested in the type of green that you put in your bank account. The former vice president and Nobel prize winner's company, Current Media, told the SEC today that it plans to raise as much as $100 million through an IPO.

His timing, though, couldn't have been worse. Bloomberg News reports that about 24 companies have canceled IPOs in the past month, the most in a decade. So what makes Al Gore, the company's executive chairman, and his partner Joel Hyatt, the CEO, think the time is right for Current Media? I have no idea.

For one thing, the parent of the Current TV cable channel, is almost $32 million in the red and neither Gore nor Joel Hyatt have any agreement to either remain employed by the company or maintain their stock ownership at particular levels, according to a filing with the SEC.

Interestingly, Current Media pays its executives pretty well. Gore and Hyatt both earned more than $1.04 million in compensation from the company in 2007. Both have also lent the San Francisco-based company $1 million each, the filing said.

Odds are pretty good that this IPO isn't going to happen. Current Media, though, would make an attractive acquisition target for a media conglomerate such as Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) or Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA) because it attracts a young audience that advertisers covet. Rupert Murdoch probably would like the company as well, but I doubt that Gore would ever be able to show his face at Earth Day again if he sold out to News Corp (NYSE: NWS).

Almost no one watches the News Corp (NYSE: NWS) Fox Business Network.

What is the channel's viewership? According to The New York Times "about 6,300, on average, on any given weekday, according to early estimates compiled by Nielsen Media Research." The comparable number for rival CNBC was 283,000 viewers based on data between October 15 and December 14.

The news has to be a humiliation for Fox. It started the network by saying that it would be a credible challenge to CNBC, and it spent millions of dollars on promoting the new network.

It may get harder for the network to get people to come on its shows. Who wants to go to a studio to be seen by a few kids who are watching TV because they are home sick from school?

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Indicating reduced profitability in the video display market, Fujitsu (OTC: FJTSY) has announced its departure from the production of high end plasma televisions. This news comes via ars technica and is indicative of a major trending pattern. Much is astir among Japanese electronics manufacturers as companies there take a turn for the lean and are engaged in forming manufacturing power alliances.

Much is being affected by the near total domination of liquid crystal display technology within a tightening, yet deepening image display sector. Take further evidence of change by considering Brian White's post about the exit from rear projection television by Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE). The LCD field is currently saturated and for it's improvement it needs to thin out.

Strides are still being made in regard to making LCD displays thinner and engineers are working on reducing power consumption. Little can be done however, to improve LCD profitability with so many companies cranking out cheap displays. What's needed now is for some of the remaining display manufacturers to aggressively address some considerable quality issues.

Gary Sattler does not knowingly hold financial interest in the companies he blogs about.

The waring sides in the Hollywood writers' strike don't give a hoot about the public.

Sure, we TV viewers haven't suffered much yet, but the future looks bleaker than Wisteria Lane on Desperate Housewives after the tornado, according to the Wall Street Journal:

Artful scheduling of remaining episodes of scripted shows will get them through January. Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS)'s ABC Television, for instance, has a couple of episodes of Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy that it can stretch out with some techniques such as longer recaps of previous episodes. After that, the network has a couple of new mid-season scripted shows it is planning to debut.

Oh no, does that mean that we are going to keep hearing about the tornado? Will the slow, torturous relationship between Meredith Grey and Derrick Shepherd continue to move along at a glacial pace on Desperate Housewives? Do the networks want people to start reading?